Railroad Workers Deal With Dangerous Heat at Fort Worth ‘Death Valley’ Rail Yard

August 28th, 2012 |

FORT WORTH, TX. — Union Pacific railroad workers are being exposed to blazing temperatures at Union Pacific’s massive Davidson Yard located in Fort Worth, Texas being forced to deal with record summer temperatures in a rail yard that has been labeled the Fort Worth Death Valley.

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Railroad workers in the Union Pacific Davidson Rail Yard in Fort Worth, TX experience blazing heat.

Davidson Yard is the second largest train yard in Texas with more than two million tons of freight moving through the location every year. At its center is the Diesel Maintenance Facility. Just about every locomotive Union Pacific operates goes through the yard.

The rail yard is built in the shape of a huge bowl with rarely a cooling breeze and very little shade. This summer record heats have reached 108-degrees at the DFW Airport. When you add 30 to 35 degrees to that number, you will have the daytime temperature at the Fort Worth train yard.

Map showing location of Union Pacific Davidson Rail Yard near the Hulen Street bridge on the west side of Fort Worth, TX.

When it was 108-degrees at the airport, that afternoon it was 138-degrees in the “bowl” as they call it, the center of the yard where they cull and separate out the freight cars.

This makes for intolerable and dangerous working conditions.

Posted by Gordon, Elias & Seely, a FELA lawyer and railroad injury lawyer blog that publishes train accidents and FELA legal news from across the United States.